Most organizations are wrapping up projects at the end
of the year, but you know The Merck Manuals always does things a little
differently. So we are now introducing The Merck Manuals Contributor Connection, a newsletter
providing updates on what we’re doing at The Manuals—along with important
tips and information for you, our community of contributors. All of you
are integral to The Manuals’ mission of providing global access to the
best medical information. We hope this information will “keep you in the
loop” as you author/review your topics.

Keep up with what we’re doing

We know our
newsletter is exciting, but we have more exciting news to share.

·Did you know that you can receive a
$250.00 bonus in addition to your honorarium simply for completing your
initial chapter review on schedule? We’ve already sent contract addenda
to many authors, and the bonus option will be added to all new contracts
and contract renewals.

As you are likely aware, until recently our portal
relied solely on Java to run. And this meant that you, as a user of our
portal, were required to have Java installed on any computer that you
used to access our portal and ultimately, your chapter.Although riddled with issues in getting
it to run, our Java portal is a very robust and feature-filled program.
It is just too difficult at this point to maintain, mostly because of the
limitations of browser selection due to more and more security features
being implemented.

SO our BIG news is…We now offer a new non-Java portal
option! You no longer need to constantly update your Java version—which
often times was not an easy task. The non-Java option is simple, can be
used on ANY browser, never requires updates, and our vendor will continue
to improve the functionality until it closely matches functionally with
its Java counterpart. One important caveat—you must clear
your cache before launching the portal. This is very simple and takes
only a few seconds.

Did you know that our social media team uses numerous
social media channels to spread the word about your valuable medical
content?

Social media is helping to generate awareness of The
Manuals around the globe. A new Facebook page just launched, tailored to
consumers in Japan and promoting the Japanese site. Additional social
media channels are available for consumers and health care professionals
in Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, and more!

Here’s a sample of what you might see:

We invite you to follow us on Facebook and Twitter
using the icons below—you might even see your own work highlighted!